TORONTO, November 4, 2016
Despite getting off to a flying start, Katherine Sebov (Kleinburg, Ont.) was unable to join fellow Canadian Bianca Andreescu in the quarterfinals of the $50,000 Tevlin Women’s Challenger. Sebov’s campaign came to a close on Thursday after the qualifier was defeated by No. 1 seed Catherine Bellis 5-7, 6-1, 6-1 at Toronto’s Aviva Centre.
Bellis overcame an early deficit, and rebounded to win the second round match in two hours and 18 minutes.
“I knew it was going to be a tough one,” said Bellis. “Katherine [Sebov] and I have played each other a bunch of times in junior and it’s always been tight. I just tried to stay positive and focus on playing my game and that worked out in the end.”
Since reaching the third round at the US Open in September, the 17-year-old has been competing north of the border – Bellis advanced to the quarter-finals at the WTA event in Quebec City and most recently, she captured the crown at the $50,000 Saguenay Challenger in mid-October.
“I love it,” Bellis said of playing in Canada. “In the past month and a half I’ve been here three times so I’ve really been loving it so far. Everyone has been so nice and the city is amazing.”
The San Francisco native will move on to face Tessah Andrianjafitrimo of France in the quarterfinal on Friday.
No. 2 seed Elise Mertens also advanced to the field’s final eight with a 6-3, 6-3 victory over qualifier Julia Elbaba of the United States. The Belgian will meet another US-American qualifier, Ronit Yurokvsky, in Friday’s action. Yurkovsky secured her spot in the quarter-finals with a 6-2, 7-6(5) defeat of fellow US-American Jessica Wacnik earlier on Thursday.
No. 4 seed Jesika Maleckova reached the quarters in Toronto as well. The 22-year-old Czech advanced with a 7-5, 6-1 victory over Hungary’s Fanny Stollar. On Friday, Maleckova will face Nicole Frenkel of the United States, who advanced with a win on Wednesday.
Doubles Top Seeds Advance
In doubles, the top-seeded team of Gabriela Dabrowski (Ottawa) and Michaella Krajicek of the Netherlands were the first pair to reach the semifinal round. Dabrowski and Krajicek cruised to a 6-0, 6-1 win over Canadian wild cards Lauren Chypyha (Toronto) and Layne Sleeth (Unionville, Ont.) in a neat forty-five minutes.
However, another all-Canadian match-up lies ahead for the No. 1 seeds. Dabrowski and Krajicek will take on Bianca Andreescu and Charlotte Robillard-Millette (Blainville, Que.) in the semifinals after they triumphed 7-5, 6-4 over US-American Alexandra Stevenson and Fanny Stollar of Hungary on Thursday.
On the other side, Elena Bovina of Russia and US-American Carson Branstine beat Austria’s Pia Konig and Laura Schaeder of Germany 7-6(7), 7-5. They will face US-Americans Ashley Weinhold and Caitlin Whoriskey in Friday’s semifinal. The US-Americans beat Emina Bektas and Ronit Yurovsky of the United States 6-7(3), 6-3, 10-8 to advance on Thursday evening.
